In many industrial installations, a large supply of water is often needed for cooling, flushing, or other applications. Such a large supply of water is usually taken from a body of water, such as a river, stream, pond or other water source, which contains particulate material, such as leaves, twigs, stones and the like, that would be harmful to industrial equipment and which particulate material must be removed. In order to remove such particulates, an initial bar screen may be used to filter out the largest articles, while other particulates are fed to a straining apparatus which may be a rotary strainer containing a rotary basket screen or other device to remove particulates.
The assignee of the present invention has, for example, provided strainers which are adapted for service on a suction side of pumps to strain liquid of foreign matter, and one such device is of a motorized self-cleaning type that contains a strainer basket in a housing, which basket is motor driven. A support with spokes suspends the strainer basket in the housing, while a brush, shear knife and/or water Jet device is used to clean the strainer basket sidewall. A revolving brush on the outside of the strainer basket keeps the strainer basket openings free from clogging, while a shear knife on the outside of the strainer basket shears any protruding matter from the basket as it revolves, and high pressure cleaning jets pressure clean the strainer basket as it revolves, forcing debris from the strainer basket and its openings. Applicant has also furnished a strainer that contains a removable stationary basket in a housing, the housing having a removable cover and the basket having a handle thereon for removing the basket for cleaning.
In the co-pending related application referenced to hereinbefore, a self-cleaning strainer is described having a vertically disposed housing which contains a rotatable strainer basket. A cleaning device for removing particulates from the side wall of the rotating basket includes a hollow backwash conduit in the strainer basket, the conduit having an outer wall that defines a chamber and a passage through the wall communicating with the chamber. An aperture is provided in the housing wall which communicates with the chamber of the hollow backwash conduit, and a means for sealing the aperture provided to open and close the chamber to the atmosphere outside the housing. A scraper blade and extension member, spaced therefrom, are provided on the hollow backwash conduit on either side of the passage. A rotatable brush may also be provided to further clean the inner surface of the strainer basket side wall.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a self-cleaning strainer having a stationary strainer basket therein with a backwash system for easily cleaning the wall of the strainer basket of particulate material collected on the wall.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a self-cleaning strainer having a stationary strainer basket therein and a rotatable cleaning device supported for rotation within the strainer basket to clean away particulates collected on the inner surface of the wall of the strainer basket.